Tuesday, December 5, 2017

All Purpose Phrases

So I have acquired a great little part-time job for myself. 
A few months ago, I started playing this very addictive online game called Township. Seriously, don't even check it out unless you are prepared to dedicate some serious time to it. Anyway, at one point, you have the opportunity to join a co-op, to exchange goods and to take part in regattas. I ended up in this international co-op that has Russians, Germans, English, people from Barbados, the UAE, India and Asia. We are a veritable United Nations, but get along much better and are totally co-operative, despite the language barriers. This is due, in great part to the founder of the co-op, who is a teacher in Russia, teaching  English as a second language.
 We have become very good friends, and she asked me a couple weeks ago if  I would be interested in speaking to one of her classes once a week. Well,, public speaking is one of my least favorite things, but the idea of speaking with some regular Russian citizens was just so interesting and enticing that I could not refuse or resist. So we talk about different things, They want to be exposed to how Americans really talk, as opposed to what out-dated text books tell them.
Today, one of the questions they had was to learn what the most common and popular curse words are.  So I rattled off the most common in my personal repertoire, which was pretty colorful, but as is so often the case, I come up with my best responses retroactive to the conversation. I was sitting here and realized I had neglected to mention possibly the most ubiquitous phrase used today....the all-purpose phrase 'what the fuck". There are very few instances that this phrase, or, in a pinch, abbreviation, wtf, cannot be applied. It can be an inquiry, an exclamation of surprise, disgust, anger, glee, shock, outrage, confusion or just plain exhaustion. I wish this blog came with an audio application so I could demonstrate all these examples for the class.. You can even embellish this phrase by adding a modifier, such as "what the absolute fuck". The other phrase I use constantly is "OH MY GOD" or omg in Facebook lingo. This can also be elevated with adverbs such as 'Oh my fucking God" for particularly heinous and/or surprising occasions. 
So, there you are, dear class. These are the best I have to offer. Sorry I had brain freeze earlier. To everyone else...OMG, I know this isn't about anything relevant today, but WTF...sometimes I just want to be amusing, okay?

Just sayin'
Dragonfly Davis

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